Thread by @AnnaJerzewska

While we're all digesting the details, quick point

There are two separate questions here:

1⃣ Is this a good deal for the UK vs what we had
2⃣ Is this a good FTA

And I think we should focus on the latter

/1

We’ve known the answer to the first question for years. The economic impact of an FTA is preferable only to a no deal outcome. But we’ve also known that these were the two option on the table for a while now.

/2

While I understand the sadness of losing so much, that actually happened a while back. And if you look at the EU list of what we've lost, most of it was to be expected

/3

So the better question is is this a good FTA as in how does it compare to other such agreements?

FTAs have their limits, quite a few of them actually.

/4

Simplest example, saying it's not a good FTA cause it doesn't remove border formalities is pointless- FTAs never do. That decision was made when we decided to leave the SM+CU.

/5

So let's judge this deal within limits of what FTAs normally achieve and see if it goes further rather than comment on how much it's taking away from us.

After all, it was that or no deal.

/end